Despite the confident assurances of both meat processing giant Cremonini and the Italian government just months ago (“Italian meat – safe and guaranteed,” read the adverts), the ministry of health was forced to confirm yesterday (16 January) that the country was facing its first confirmed incidence of BSE.
Mandatory testing of cattle over the age of 30 months began just a fortnight ago on 1 January and that a diseased cow could have been discovered so soon is heralding a massive crisis of confidence among carnivore consumers.
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Indeed, authorities admit that the Cremonini plant cow that tested positive for mad cow disease would more than likely ended up a tasty roast if it had boarded the lorry for the slaughterhouse in northern Italy just two weeks earlier.
Cremonini shares plummeted a further 4.1% with news of the indigenous BSE discovery, totalling their overall slump to 42% since July 2000, and concern was widespread as consumers studied the vast portfolio of buyers for Cremonini meat.
The family-controlled firm exports to the tune of €82.3m (nearly a quarter of its production during H1 of 2000) and is an exclusive supplier to the Italian subsidiaries of US fastfood behemoth McDonald’s and Diageo owned UK chain Burger King. It also provides beef to Autogrill restaurants; supermarket giants Auchan, Coop, Carrefour, and Wal-Mart, among others; Sheraton, Forte, Club Mediterranee and Jolly hotels; Eurostar trains across Europe; Moby Line ferries and food giants Nestle, Unilever and Kraft.
This is not counting the own-name chain of restaurants, which are reported to serve 57m diners annually. And it was only last September that the company announced a 60-steakhouse joint venture with Florida company RoadHouseGrill.
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By GlobalDataBeef is so obviously Cremonini’s core business that is hard to understand how it will recover from the BSE shock. According to the secretary of the Italian Butchers Union (Fiesa-Confesercenti), Gaetano Pergamo, sales of beef slumped a further 30% nationwide on the first Monday after the case was revealed in the newspaper. Some analysts are suggesting the company could become a “buying opportunity,” however. Fund manager at Banco di Napoli Asset Management, Francesco De Astis pointed out: “The level of meat consumption now is so low that it’s difficult for it to drop even further.”
It could take a while for the company to recover from the shock. Carlo Bonizzi, secretary of the cattle farmers association (AIA) revealed that the cow had arrived from a farm near Brescia, which stopped using ruminants-based livestock feed in 1989, five years before the cow was born. And as this remains the scientific focus in the search for a cause of BSE, the latest mad cow will no doubt open a few doubts in the minds of scientists and authorities, as well as consumers.
